Rs 120 Cr for minority concentration districts

New Delhi, Apr 12 (UNI) The Government has provided Rs 120 crore for development of backward districts with minority concentration in the current financial year.

The allocation has been made under the Multi Sectoral Development Programme for Minorities, which is one of the several schemes for which the Ministry of Minority Affairs has provided Rs 500 Crore.

As many as 80,000 school going children belonging to minority communities will benefit from the pre-matric scholarship scheme for which Rs 80 Crore has been allocated in the current financial year.

Moreover, Rs 100 Crore have been provided for 75,000 scholarships under the Post-Matric Scholarship Programme for persuing Technical and Vocational Courses for classes XIth and XIIth and also for general courses at Undergraduate and Post-graduate levels. Grant-in-Aid to the tune of Rs 10 crore will be provided to State Channelising Agencies(SCAs) implementing the National Minorities Development&Finance Corporation (NDMFC) Programmes for strengthening their infrastructure, manpower and resources.

Further, a sum of Rs 190 crore has been provided for the ongoing schemes of Ministry like Grant-in-Aid to Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF), Coaching and Allied schemes for economically weaker sections of the minorities, Research/Studies, Monitoring and Evaluation of development schemes and Merit cum Means Scholarship for professional and technical courses during the current year.

UNI